


Full Circle

by Frangipanidownunder



Category: The X-Files
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-23
Updated: 2018-11-23
Packaged: 2019-08-28 00:57:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 577
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16713475
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Frangipanidownunder/pseuds/Frangipanidownunder
Summary: Alternative ending for season 11.





	Full Circle

There’s a ripple on the surface, the watery equivalent of smoke rings and stinging bile rises to lodge in her throat. She’s spent a lifetime pushing down the guilt. And it always tastes the same - like failure.

Mulder’s vice-like grip on her shoulders pin her to the spot. His own guilt is evident in the heaving of his chest, the scratchy whine trapped in his throat. She’s seen him cry before, but she’s never felt it. She can taste his sorrow, hear it, like its her own.

‘Just let me go Mulder, I need him to know the truth.’

‘No, Scully, no…’ He’s pleading, kneading her skin with his desperate fingers. ‘He knows the truth, he knows.’ He takes a hand from her shoulder and pumps a fist against his chest. ‘He knows.’

She twists and frees herself, stands at the edge of the pier watching the water slapping against the sides. Diesel-filled air rushes at her. Grey film swirls at the periphery of her vision. Nausea makes her knees give out and it’s Mulder’s solid form behind her that gives her a reason not to fall to the cold ground and just stay there. 

Jackson is alive. She knows it. Mulder knows it. He’s out there and he’s hurting and she just wants one more chance to put everything right.

‘Scully, there’s nothing we can do. He doesn’t want to be with us right now.’

‘He’s frightened, Mulder. He’s scared and he’s angry and he thinks he’s alone.’

There’s a screech behind them, a night bird’s warning. She shivers, searches the water’s surface. 

‘I hear him, Mulder. I hear his sadness, his fear. I just need to tell him that I love him.’ She chokes then and Mulder pulls her round, pressing her face into his chest.

‘We love him, we both love him, Scully and if you listen, if you really listen, you’ll find out that he knows.’ His chest hitches higher and she lets her own hot tears spill down his jacket, still bloodied. ‘I saw a kid, our kid, vulnerable yeah, but tough too, Scully. He’s tough and he’s out there and he’ll make his way somewhere for a while, but he’s going to come back. He’ll be back.’

‘How can you be so sure?’ She swipes away the hairs stuck to her face and looks up at him.

He’s smiling now, looking out to the expanse of dark water. A security light catches the grey in his temples, the stubble on his chin and jaw. His eyes soften and he laughs, shaking his head.

‘Because he’s ours, Scully. We have this…fucking gene or something…a gene that means we can never get away from each other. Don’t we?’ He chuckles, body shuddering as he spits out his theory. ‘A fucking gene like a magnet, a tractor beam. We find our way back to each other. We can’t escape it. We just don’t know how to be with anybody else, do we? And that’s what he’s got in him. That’s what’s going to save him, save us.’

She’s laughing now, head hanging so her tears and snot streak her face and chin and drop to the floor. She’s never been such a fucking mess. A freezing, pissed off fucking mess and when it starts to rain, heavy pelting shards of rain, she understands. Right back to that graveyard in Oregon where they danced in the rain and fell in love. Full circle.


End file.
